All posts tagged DIO

According to Classic Rock Magazine, Eagle Rock have released a clip from upcoming DIO concert movie Live In London: Hammersmith Apollo – view the band’s performance of Mob Rules below.

It was filmed in December 1993 and featured late metal icon Ronnie James Dio with drummer Vinny Appice, guitarist Tracy G and bassist Jeff Pilson. They were touring in support of sixth album Strange Highways, which followed Dio and Appice having returned to Black Sabbath for 1992′s Dehumanizer album and tour.

The 18-track live film will be launched in DVD, Blu-ray, 2CD and digital formats on May 12.

Since Dio Disciples tours with two vocalists, both you and Tim “Ripper” Owens (formerly of JUDAS PRIEST and ICED EARTH), how are you sharing vocal duties for the tour?

Oni: “Well, there are specific songs that work better and lend themselves vocally to each of our voices better than others. Well let me rephrase that, basically what happens is that our tonalities, our quality of voices, whatever suits us as far as what the catalog that Ronnie (James Dio) has being there in front of us, we pick and choose. And we also, when we’re onstage, we share a couple of songs together, some of the classic songs from RAINBOW, from BLACK SABBATH and also we sing a few on our own. And they’re all designed for our voices.”

Ronnie was known for putting on such elaborate shows, very theatrical. What can fans expect to see at a Dio Disciples show?

Oni: “Well as far as production, there is not the production that Ronnie took out on the road with the dragons and everything.That you won’t see, but you will see a quality show with regards to the lighting as well as the participation and how the band delivers onstage and how we perform the songs. It’s quality, it’s the best (I would say) band out there portraying Ronnie’s legacy. With respect.”

Artist Series Guitar will release 30 of DIO‘s “Holy Diver” guitars in July. Finished with DIO‘s exclusive artwork and built with solid mahogany, the Dio ASG is set with artwork from the “Holy Diver” album release. Once the graphic has undergone the ASG-designed, chemical bonding process, the guitar is then clear-coated, wet-sanded and buffed. This process forever seals the custom graphic to the guitar.

With only 30 to ever be made — one to mark each year of DIO — this rare anniversary guitar is set to sell out fast. Pre-sale will begin on July 10, to mark what would have been Ronnie James Dio‘s 70th birthday.

Originally issued on May 25, 1983, “Holy Diver” has been hailed by critics as DIO‘s best work and a classic staple in the heavy metal genre. The LP was certified gold in the U.S. on September 12, 1984 and platinum on March 21, 1989.

“Holy Diver” re-entered The Billboard 200 chart in May 2010 — shortly after the band’s frontman, Ronnie James Dio, died of stomach cancer — at No. 149 and bowed at No. 11 on Pop Catalog (4,000; up 322%).

DIO‘s last release was the “Holy Diver Live” CD, featuring a performance of the classic “Holy Diver” album in its entirety, from start to finish, recorded live for the very first time in 2005 in front of a sold-out London crowd. It also includes, among others, “Heaven & Hell”, “Sign of the Southern Cross” and “Mob Rules” from vocalist Ronnie James Dio‘s BLACK SABBATH days, “Tarot Woman”, “Man on the Silver Mountain” and “Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll” from the RAINBOW era and “We Rock” from his solo career.

ACCEPT and Wolf Hoffmann are on top of a high mountain now. Releasing two successful albums and selling out many shows during their last worldwide tour are good examples of this claim. However they still have a shining career in their background. That’s why we call them legends. Blackdiamond recently conducted an interview with Wolf, some excerpts of which can be read below.

Whilst discussing Ronnie James Dio, Wolf expressed the following thoughts:

“Not only was he an awesome singer, everybody worshipped him, he was also a very nice person to be around; gentleman like.

We toured with him in 1986, did a whole North American run, opening up for him. He was always very generous and let us use the stage, gave us sound checks and all that kind of stuff. I remember it was a very pleasant tour.

He wasn’t a guy who would hang around all the time – he would do his thing and keep to himself. Then we’d exchange pleasantries and say hi, then we had a beer together. That’s the extent of what we do when we open up for other bands, but he was very nice.“

Wolf revealed his opinion on the classic DIO album Holy Diver:

“Oh man, classic riffs and classic songs, it doesn’t get much better than that! From the ultra heavy metal era that I know, this is one of the classic albums. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Probably Holy Diver is my favourite track.“

Wolf explains the highlights in his and ACCEPT‘s career:

“Coming back after this long break with Mark Tornillo, that was to me the highlight of our career. It was such a crazy story, nobody thought it was going to work, everybody said ‘who needs ACCEPT with a new singer?’ Nobody’s expectations were high, everybody had written it off before it had started.

Then when the album came out and everyone saw us on stage and how on fire we were and how much alive we were, everything turned around and that was a crazy experience. That’s really a story that doesn’t happen very often.

Monsters Of Rock, Castle Donington, that was another highlight of my musical career, back in ’86. It was an amazing bill: AC/DC, Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore, Accept, Motley Crue, imagine that bill!“

You can listen to the whole of the interview on the audio player below:

Drummer Simon Wright is best known for his work with the bands AC/DC and DIO. He currently plays with DIO DISCIPLES and has also recently joined Geoff Tate’s QUEENSRYCHE.

Simon joined AC/DC in 1983 and recorded three of their classic albums – Fly On The Wall, Who Made Who and Blow Up Your Video. Simon left in 1989 to join DIO. He was with the band twice, the first for a short period; 1990-1991, the second stint from 1998-2010. Simon recorded four studio albums – Lock Up The Wolves, Magica, Killing The Dragon and Master Of The Moon, as well as two live albums – Evil Or Divine – Live In New York City and Holy Diver Live.

Metal Shock Finland‘s Blackdiamond recently had a chat with Simon and of course as it is nearing the anniversary of the death of the legendary Ronnie James Dio, there were some lovely memories shared by Simon.

You can read some excerpts from the interview below and listen to it in full on the player:

Memories of Ronnie:

“I always found him to be a real gentleman, really smart, a really funny guy. When I got the opportunity to join his band I jumped at the chance. I was in AC/DC at the time and on the verge of leaving.

He wasa fantastic person, not only a brilliant singer and songwriter, but just as a person as well; very considerate and humble. He was the boss as well and could crack the whip when he wanted to!

It just got better every year, making albums together, we were very tight. It was some of the best years of my career. I’ll never forget him, I think about him every day.”

“I think I heard some of it on Tommy Vance’s radio show and it just threw me to the wall! I was like ‘Good God what’s this?!’ Every song is killer, it just blew my mind, what a brilliant album. Great songs, great playing, great lyrics, incredible album.

I always like the song Invisible; I thought that was a great song, a great intro and lyric at the beginning and the riff was a bit different to the norm too.”

Simonspoke of his thoughts on joining QUEENSRYCHE and the current situation:

“It’s going really well – I wasn’t sure I must admit, ‘cos there’s a lot of controversy going on at the moment, ‘that name.’ We make a pretty good team, we were on the road for about a month in America , doing the whole Operation Mindcrime album and our interpretation of it. Everybody seemed to like it, it went well.

When asked about there being two versions of QUEENSRYCHE, Simon continued:

It’s about the music for us – we’re not really involved in the politics, we’re just there to play the music. I guess the legal wranglings of it all will be sorted out in November, so it’ll become a bit clearer.”

DIO‘s “Finding The Sacred Heart – Live In Philly 1986” DVD will be released on May 28 via Eagle Vision.

“Finding The Sacred Heart – Live In Philly 1986” was filmed at The Spectrum in Philadelphia on June 17, 1986 during the second leg of the “Sacred Heart” tour, which featured new guitarist Craig Goldy. The show was issued in an edited form first on VHS and then DVD. Now for the first time the full concert is being released in the original running order, restored from the original 16mm film and with remastered sound. It’s an extraordinary live show with a giant animatronic dragon towering over the stage and spectacular lasers and pyrotechnics. Ronnie James Dio is in fine voice as ever and the band deliver a blistering live performance featuring tracks from their first three albums alongside BLACK SABBATH and RAINBOW classics.

“Finding The Sacred Heart – Live In Philly 1986” track listing:

01. Draco Ignis
02. King Of Rock And Roll
03. Like The Beat Of A Heart
04. Don’t Talk To Strangers
05. Hungry For Heaven
06. Medley: ‘The Last In Line / Children Of The Sea / Holy Diver / The Last In Line (reprise)
07. Drum Solo
08. Heaven And Hell
09. Keyboard Solo
10. Guitar Solo
11. Sacred Heart
12. Medley: Rock ‘n’ Roll Children / Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll / Man On The Silver Mountain / Rock ‘n’ Roll Children (reprise)
13. Time To Burn
14. Stand Up And Shout
15. Rainbow In The Dark
16. We Rock